The Tamil Tigers conceded defeat in Sri Lanka’s 25-year civil war on Sunday, after launching waves of suicide attacks to repel a final assault by troops determined to annihilate them.President Mahinda Rajapaksa had declared victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the day before, even as combat raged in the island’s northeast and the military said it was freeing the last of thousands of trapped civilians.
By midday Sunday, the military said troops had freed all the civilians being held by the LTTE inside an area that was less than a single square km (0.5 sq mile). A total of 72,000 had fled since Thursday, it said.
What was the war about?
Prabhakaran began his fight for a separate state for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils in the early 1970s, and it erupted into full-scale civil war in 1983.
Tamils complain of marginalization at the hands of successive governments led by the Sinhalese majority, which came to power at independence in 1948 and took the favored position the Tamils had enjoyed under the British colonial government.
I wonder if the wars we’re waging will be over in 25 years.
It’s about time.
The Tamils here in Ottawa and Toronto have been protesting for the last several weeks trying to get the Canadian government to call for a cease fire or something. I wonder if it will stop now.
#2 – MR
The Tamils in exile could have stopped the bloodshed a long time ago if they had stopped sending money to support the Tamil Tigers.
I am glad the conflict is over. It will stop being a political issue in India. Wikipedia is a good place to get stated. Read – LTTE, RAW, Rajiv Gandhi, Tamil Nadu and IPKF.
“I wonder if the wars we’re waging will be over in 25 years.”
Maybe. But there will always be self-interested splinter groups ready to start new ones.
This is an example of yet another legacy issue left behind by the British. Glad it’s finally over, but there are so many others still unresolved.
I’ve heard about the Tamils in Canada getting all bent out of shape because the Canadian and US government won’t stop the Sri Lanka army from finishing this war.
Live by the sword. Die by the sword. I am damn glad to see a government finally has the balls to finish a war instead of letting it drag on and on and on because they don’t have the balls to finish it. If we ran WWII like we run wars today we would still be fighting the Japanese.
I’m sick of the pleading “What about the poor civilians?”. Well, that is what happens when you live in a war zone. I’m sorry, but the alternative is worse. The Tamil Tigers should be ashamed of what they have done to their people.
#6 I really doubt it’s over, the Tamils are still there and the context that started the war remains. Worse still because of the hard feelings left over from the war.
Israel/Palestine’s another example of the shining lack of foresight on behalf of the British. Who knows if that will ever end.
When the money ran out, so did the fighting. An unexpected bonus, of the global economic crisis.
#6, Alien,
The British left Sri Lanka 60 years ago. In case you don’t understand arithmetic, that was 35 years before the Civil War started.
#10 – Actually, the Sri Lankan gov’t has been pouring money it does not have into this campaign over the last seven or eight months. The gov’t will be paying for this war for a long time, yet. What’s worse, I don’t believe for a minute the Tamils will simply give up and start living peacefully. They will be pushed back underground and start building more bomb belts while they wait for Tamils around the world to start sending them more funds to rebuild and rearm.
I don’t like to be pessimistic. But, there you go…
#12 – Nimby
I think you’re correct on that they will rearm and get back to business one day. But the funding is not as great as it used to be, because the Tamil Tigers is on terror organization lists across the globe.
10,
The LTTE were deemed a terrorist organization and therefore bank accounts across the world were seized. They never figured out the whole money laundering game since they always considered themselves to be legitimate.
7,
Obviously, you are a jackass. Sometimes, innocent people are stuck in places / situations that would choose otherwise if they had the means to. When Dairy Queen runs out of hamburgers you can drive over to Burger King. That doesn’t mean people in other parts of the world have the same ability to leave a war zone. Idiot.
As for your live by the sword comment. Are you ready, if you are an American, to die by the sword when it comes? America has wielded the sword like it was a fork since 1776.
>> Ron Larson said, on May 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am
>> I am damn glad to see a government finally has the balls to finish a war instead of letting it drag on and on and on because they don’t have the balls to finish it.
Yeah, 25 years is so speedy! The time just flies.
>> Jägermeister said, on May 17th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
>> they will rearm and get back to business one day.
Maybe.
Counter-insurgencies have worked but it usually took a long long time.
(ALWAYS, from what I know, but someone might give be able to give me an example the quick demise of an insurgency.)
Hell, the US could probably have won the Vietnam war if we were willing to fight it until, well, about now.
From what I know about Muslim cultures, “long time” means a really really really long time!
And George Bush was strutting around crowing about “mission accomplished” after a few weeks. What a fool.
# 13 Jägermeister said,”But the funding is not as great as it used to be, because the Tamil Tigers is on terror organization lists across the globe.”
Of course you’re right but so was the IRA and there weren’t nearly as many Irish around the world as there are Muslims. So, I fear it is only a matter of time. And that’s a real shame because I love Sri Lanka. I had the pleasure of living there for a while and might consider living there again, now.
Wow! No one jumped on my mistake, yet. I meant Hindus, not Muslims.
#16 – Greg Allen – Hell, the US could probably have won the Vietnam war if…
…it hadn’t been run with political constraints (which would have meant open war with China).
#17 – Nimby
The IRA got a lot of their funding from people in the USA.
It helped that Sri Lanka didn’t have to deal with a left that complained about their outrageous conduct, disproportionate response, or being a roadblock to peace.